Shivani Chaudhary lost her father when she was just 6 years old. Marrying the love of her life and entering the Dhankar family, she always hoped to find a father figure in her father-in-law. She didn’t know that she would also find double the mother's love from her mother-in-law.
Make-up artist Shivani Chadhaury talks to SheThePeople about the bond she shares with her additional family, how giving a makeover to her mother-in-law brought them closer, and why respect and love are foundations of a strong relationship between a woman and her in-laws.
Shivani Chaudhary story of giving her MIL a Makeover
"We were just having a casual conversation on a peaceful night, enjoying each other's company when my father suddenly spoke up. "Why don't you do makeup for your Sasuma and record a short video?” he suggested. I looked over at my Sasuma, surprised by the idea. "Should I do your makeup?" I asked her. I never thought she would agree to something like this, but she surprised me by nodding her head in agreement. "Your bahu is a makeup artist. Let me do your transformation," I said with a smile.
The next morning, I called my Sasuma into my room and asked her to choose one of her dresses. It took around 20 minutes to finish her makeup, during which time she asked me several questions about all the different creams and why they were necessary. She even asked me how she was looking throughout the process.
When Sasurji came in to see her after the makeover, the first words out of his mouth were, 'Aahe tu toh pehchane mai bhi nhi aati.. itni badal gayi tu toh! Kitni sundar lag rahi hai tu toh' ('I can't even recognize you anymore. You're looking so beautiful!'), and he started dancing with joy. It was a great moment, and we all laughed together.
My Sasuma is a very calm person who doesn't talk much. She hails from Haryana and didn't have any exposure to makeup or fashion until she got married. Her mother was very strict and didn't allow her to experiment with any of these things. In fact, she didn't even have a mirror in her house so that she couldn't see her face. After she got married and had three kids, she started wearing bindis and lipstick, but that was the extent of her experimentation.
It was a delightful experience to witness her transformation and the way she lit up after the makeup session. It was almost like she had found a new part of herself, and we were all delighted to see her embrace it.”